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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Hey guys! Instead of your regularly scheduled dosage of newdarkcloud,
you’re going to receive a heaping of MaristPlayBoy, courtesy of what I like to
call a “writer’s exchange program” between PSTD and my own blog, the Red Shirt Crew. That said, since this is a gaming-centered blog, I figure I should use
this time to talk about my personal favourite story-telling games: the
turn-based strategy genre.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: strategy games aren’t
known for their story-telling abilities. That distinction usually goes to RPGs
(both of the Japanese and Western variety) and can sometimes be extended to an
action adventure (Assassin’s Creed) or shooter (Bioshock) that rises above its
peers. With the exception of series like the Fire Emblem games, turn-based
strategy games are supposed to be devoid of all story elements, as scripted
events would take away the control of the player in ways that would likely be
unfair. After all, Civilization would not be a better game if every advancement
in technology featured a five minute cutscene explaining the background of the
guy in the town who made the discovery and how his life was affected by it.

However, I stand by my previous statement: turn-based
strategy games are my favourite kind of story in games, and while their stories
take a very different form than those in the genres mentioned above, I think it’s
worth discussing what sets strategy games above other genres in terms of story.

The first thing that makes a strategy game great for stories
comes from the actual mechanics of the game. Anyone who’s played a Civilization
game knows how rewarding it is to crush a country that betrayed your alliance,
or how incredible it feels to see a single archer fortified within your city
walls repel swordsman after swordsman, overcoming the odds. Civilization 5
executed this perfectly through their revamping of the game’s combat system. By
emphasizing the strategy and limiting the effectiveness of the brute strength
approach, every successful or failed combat meant that much more, as it always
felt like a reflection of your own skill as a commander. If you defeated your
enemy despite being outgunned, the tales of your conquest will be sung all
throughout your Twitter feed as you brag about your awesome techniques to your
peers (Take THAT, Cleopatra), while a loss can be devastating and make you
question while you play this stupid game to begin with (Screw you, Napoleon).
While not a story in the traditional events, the sense of responsibility for
your country’s victory or defeat ensures each playthrough will be memorable.

While the Total War series also creates story through their
mechanics (gotta love that real time combat), it’s the characters presented
that keep me coming back to each game, especially Rome: Total War. See, in that
game, generals aren’t just random people that you’ve conscripted to serve you:
each man in power is a member of your family, or a highly esteemed soldier who
marries into the position. They each have traits and retinues that give them
memorable personalities and, like members of any family, you’re pretty much
stuck with what they give you. The pride of watching the first born rise to the
occasion and lead your armies to countless victories is contrasted with the
struggle of making his good-for-nothing cousin stop taking bribes and maintain
an efficiency in city management he clearly lacks. That said, I love that I can get stuck with bad
generals or agents (to a lesser degree, though Medieval II: Total War fleshed
assassins, diplomats, and priests out to make them equally interesting in their
own right). It makes the empire feel real, as these are real struggles that
empires in that age had to undergo. Creating a badass general or reforming one
who seemed doomed to failure is as satisfying as any great military victory,
and all of it creates a campaign I want to play over and over again just to see
what happens next time.

That said, my favourite strategy game of all time, and my
personal winner as Best of 2012, has to be X-Com: Enemy Unknown. Why? Because
never before in my life have a played a game in which I felt a need to tell
people about what just happened than in X-Com. It’s a perfect example of what
makes turn-based strategy games great: the non-combat mechanics are difficult,
but endlessly intriguing, the combat is exhilarating, and the character
customization breathes new life into the game.

Out of combat, X-Com makes a name for itself by forcing the
player into difficult decisions regarding the survival of the planet and
creating the best opportunities to succeed in repelling the invasion. See, you
need money to buy or upgrade just about anything in X-Com, and each action
requires time to complete. Since neither is a limitless resource, it becomes
necessary rather quickly to plan ahead and utilize your resources in the most
efficient way possible, understanding that sacrifices will have to be made. You
can’t save everybody; countries will fall, soldiers will die, and some upgrades
will have to be put to the side to make way for others. Each of these decisions
greatly impacts the flow of the game, and as a result, it is one of the most
immersive games I’ve ever played.

X-Com’s combat system is quite invigorating due to the lack
of information given. The whole game is based on aliens coming to invade Earth
using various tactics. Regardless of the type of mission, you never know how
many aliens you will encounter, where they are located, or what type they will
be. New types are introduced regularly and without warning (for the most part),
making it impossible to plan ahead with anything but the most basic strategy.
This creates an incredibly tense atmosphere, made even tenser by the combat
system, which works on percentages of success instead of any hard numbers.
Every move you make has risk attached, making successes that much more
rewarding, and failures all the more devastating. The resulting combination
leaves you on the edge of your seat in each mission, equally excited for the possibility
of improving your men and gaining supplies while being terrified of the cost
that comes from losing a soldier in battle.

What makes that cost so much higher, and what makes the
stories of this game the most uniquely interesting and memorable stories of any
game I’ve played thus far in my life, is the time and effort put into your
characters. Characters come from all countries across the world, and each can
be customized to your liking. By the time you’ve created a character and
watched them grow into these battle-hardened veterans, you gain an attachment
for them unlike anything I’ve experienced in other strategy games. At that
point, they’re no longer just “Squad Member #5”; they become “Luigi
Pasta-Sallad, the rookie from Italy who was taken over by a Sectoid Commander
and had to be killed before he became a danger to others” (RIP Luigi). Every
decision you make both in and out of combat becomes crucial when it could be
the difference between life and death for your favourite squad member.

I could write all day about the many memories I’ve formed
from my time in X-Com: Enemy Unknown. I would love to spend hours touting the
comeback story of Zathura Ho, a sniper that went through four battles without
hitting a single target before becoming the squad’s most accurate killer. I
could speak of Swedish Chef, the medic with fiery red hair, and of his triumph
at the destroyed bridge in South Africa, saving the lives of three rookies
while shielding them from incoming fire with his smoke grenades. And it would
be remiss of me to ignore the sacrifice of Yugi Moto, a heavy that allowed himself
to be surrounded by Chrysalids so that other squad members could get into
position to take out the enemy hordes.

But to close, I can think of no tale worth telling quite
like the tale of the valiant Assault Commander Hingle McCringleberry.

See, back in the day (meaning my first playthrough), rookies
tended to die a LOT. So often, in fact, that the X-Com project decided that all
rookies would be forbidden to be given nicknames or called by their real names
until they had survived their first encounter and specialized in a field (hey,
I was really bad at the time; you wouldn’t want to customize rookies if half of
them were dying on each mission either). Still, that usually didn’t matter so
much, as there was rarely more than one rookie in any particular squad mission.

Unfortunately, things were quite dire in the barracks, as all
but one of the troops that had survived past the rookie stage were in the
infirmary. Had the aliens waited just one more day, a more experienced team
could have been sent to stop the invasion at that warehouse in Brazil. Sadly,
the aliens weren’t really in an understanding mood, and HQ had no choice but to
send three rookies in with the best soldier X-Com had to offer: Hingle
McCringleberry.

The mission began as a testament to Lieutenant
McCringleberry’s prowess in the field. His shotgun took out four baddies in as
many turns, as each rookie fell in line behind him, watching his brutal efficiency
with amazement and wonder. The man was a legend, willing to risk running
directly into the enemy’s line of sight in order to execute that perfect
shotgun kill. The Sectoids didn’t know what hit them.

After clearing out the storage tank, McCringleberry ran to
the top of the warehouse to get a better idea of where the enemy was located. He
ordered the rookies to come up to join him, as their weapons had superior
range, but they were frightened by the alien noises off in the distance and
chose to stay safe behind some vans at street level.

Suddenly, three Thin Men jumped out of the shadows, guns
pointed directly at the spot where McCringleberry was hiding. He fired at the
first Thin Man to enter his field of vision, but the shotgun was not accurate
at that range, and the shot went wide left. It was the lieutenant’s last bullet
in the magazine. And now that they knew of his location, he didn’t have time to
reload, get into position, and take them out. The rookies were too far away to
help. There was only one thing to do.

Obviously, the game didn’t provide specific dialogue for
this situation, but I’d like to imagine Hingle crying out to the rookies “I’m
going to buy you some time!” as he moved into the Thin Men’s line of fire.
Understanding what had to be done, the rookies then got into flanking
positions, unable to do anything but watch as their fearless leader faced the
inevitable. The first shot destroyed the wall behind which McCringleberry had
been hiding. The second shot just barely missed. The third went straight
through his temple, and Lieutenant Hingle McCringleberry died on impact.

Now, just about any other squadron of rookies would have
panicked at the sight of their field commander dying in battle (there is a
panic function in the game, and I genuinely expected the rookies to panic here,
since this would be a legitimate reason to do so). But this squadron was
special. They charged into position screaming “FOR HINGLE!” and took each of
the Thin Men out before they even knew what was happening. The battle was over.
They had won.

True story: when Hingle McCringleberry died, I genuinely
screamed “NOOO!!!” loudly enough at the screen to attract the attention of my
parents. I had to report his death to my sister, who had created the character
with me (inspired from this video), and she was genuinely upset at his passing.
This is what makes X-Com: Enemy Unknown such a powerful game in my eyes. The
mechanics come together to create the perfect atmosphere and immersion, while
the customization and out of combat experiences ensure you are emotionally tied
to your characters. Maybe you won’t give your characters quite the personality
depth that I did, but I can guarantee
their deaths will matter to you if you give them a name and make them your own.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make sure my Irish
Major Peaches O’Callahan doesn’t suffer the same fate.

Chase Wassenar, aka
Marist Play Boy, is the founder and lead editor of the Red Shirt Crew (which he
hopes you’ll go visit), and a staff writer for Toy-TMA. He hopes his second
play through of X-Com goes significantly better than his first, as the trauma
that would ensue if Peaches was killed might actually break his heart. You can follow
him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.